We had a fantastic two days at Walsham le Willows Open Gardens at the weekend. Otto came with us, and he really seems to love it as he meets so many people and gets thoroughly spoilt.  Luckily my stall was in a beautiful and very spacious old barn, so we didn't suffer in the heat, unlike some of the outdoor stallholders who looked a little jaded by the end of day two! For a joke Dick put his hat on Otto, and may have been a bit put out to see how good our boy looked in it. You might have thought that Otto would have just shrugged it off, but no, he wore it for quite a while. He's got style, that dog. 
​I am being remarkably busy this week making and sourcing stock to replenish the website - don't worry though, there is still plenty on the site, with more to come over the next few weeks. As well as making jewellery today I have been baking ready for guests who are coming tomorrow, so cheese scones, flapjacks and a sponge are well on their way. I really had intended to bake more for the freezer, but have run out of baking powder and margarine, so I have a fine excuse. 

​Just when you think you're safe...... Dick had been through a photo-bombing stage a couple of years ago and I honestly thought he'd grown out of it. I was wrong, I have to admit that it does make me laugh though.
​We had a trip out to Norwich this morning, mainly so I could collect my new glasses, I had intended to include a photo of myself wearing them as Dick said that they make me look "grown up", but he is a bad photographer and somehow managed to make me look even more stupid than usual. Otto looks far better in specs than I do it seems. Still, we popped round the city and I managed to come home with some nice new things. We don't go often - can't afford to!!
This weekend - Sunday and Monday I will be at Walsham le Willows Open Gardens weekend, if you'd like to get an idea of the event have a look via this link www.walshamopengardens.org   It is a great event in a beautiful village. As always, there is new stock on the website, but some of it has sold on the same day that I put it on, I will have more, so just bear with me as I need to get this weekend's event out of the way. 

By now most of you will know that I'm very fond of my hens and really prefer to let them have  their freedom and just come home to roost at night. Last Thursday Dick was out on the meadows with Otto when he heard a commotion on back meadow, he was close by and ran round the corner to see Hazel being carted of by a fox. There were feathers everywhere. Poor Dick was then faced with telling me the bad news. We decided that we would have to keep the hens in their run while we have foxes about, so they were all shut in. 
​On Friday afternoon I was upstairs making necklaces, when I heard a very excited shout "Mary, Mary - there's been a miracle!" Hazel was sitting outside the run waiting to be let in! Bless her little heart. She's missing her tail feathers so is looking a bit unusual, but I'm sure they'll grow back to their previous splendour. I'm happy to have her back, and will have to get used to keeping my flock in for the time being. 
​I've been making more greetings cards this morning - my sister (glass half empty) said that they would never sell, Dick (glass half full) said they would. Glass half full won, they do sell! So more stock was needed.
​I will have a stall at The Bell at Wortwell over the weekend, they have their Beer and Cider Festival starting on Friday evening, all day on Saturday, and a Funday on Sunday afternoon. There will be food stalls and music too.
​As always there is new stock on the website www.maryslittlegems.com 

Humbug is the youngest member of our chicken family, sadly Humbug was the only successful hatching in his/her clutch, and mum (Pearl) has proved to be a less than doting mother, so the poor little thing (sex as yet unknown) was looking a bit lonely and is not really old enough to go in with the flock yet.  Enter Dolly, a few weeks older and a lovely little girl who seems quite happy to live in a separate little coop & run with her half sibling. Bertha has become broody (again!), so yesterday evening Dick put her & her clutch of eggs in the coop with Dolly & Humbug, and the little ones happily went upstairs to bed & snuggled up to Bertha. It's all quite lovely really. 
​I have been very busy this week making new things for my upcoming events. This Saturday morning (12th August) I will be at Halesworth Produce Market, and the following weekend (18th, 19th & 20th August) I will have a stall at the Wortwell Bell Beer & Cider Festival. I will also be at the Walsham le Willows Open Gardens event on the 27th & 28th August. 

It's not often you meet someone dressed like that in your front hall (better known in this house as Otto's room). We have been afflicted with a wasp nest near our bathroom window, it's actually in the roof but we can't get to it that way. The wasps get in through a small hole near the overflow pipe and their numbers had been increasing much more quickly than I can cope with (I'm allergic to stings and get a bit panicky when they're about}. I had thought that the best plan of action was to "get a man in", but Dick's idea was to buy a tub of wasp killer and do it himself. I was a bit sceptical. Anyway, Dick decided that Tuesday evening was the best time to tackle the invaders, just as it was getting dark. He wore whatever protective gear was about - gauntlets, Barbour jacket, straw hat(?), and my lightweight summery print scarf which is fairly see-through. The ladder was already in position, and he strode out - saying "just stand on the bottom rung". I was wearing normal summer clothing, thanks Dick. He got up there and liberally squirted the powder in, amazingly it seems to have worked, hardly any wasps about now. 
​As always there is new stock on the website - book marks, necklaces etc, so please have a look. I'm hoping to gradually improve the site and am getting help with optimisation to get it more widely seen, and have also embarked on an on-line IT course so that I have a better understanding of what's happening in the background. Not bad for a bumpkin!